Tennis ball retrieving device

Abstract

A frame assembly rotatably supported on a pair of laterally spaced wheels that have resilient rims that will not damage the surface of a tennis court as they roll thereon, said frame assembly including an elongate tennis ball receiving basket mounted on the forward portion thereof, with the bottom of the basket at a height above the tennis court surface greater than the diameters of tennis balls resting in random positions on the surface, and the frame including an upwardly and rearwardly extending handle. A shaft extends transversely between aligned opening in laterally spaced legs that form a part of the frame assembly. A tennis ball retrieving assembly that includes laterally spaced pairs of resilient disks is rotatably supported on the shaft, with the lateral spacing between each pair of disks being less than the diameter of a tennis ball, and each pair of disks having beads on the periphery that removably maintain a tennis ball that has entered the annulus space between a pair of disks therein. The retrieving assembly has first clutch means on opposite ends thereof that at all times pressure contact spring loaded clutch means on the wheels, and as a result the wheels and disks rotate concurrently when the invention is moved forwardly. The disks are of lesser diameters than the wheels and do not contact the tennis court surface. A number of spaced extractors displace tennis balls from the annulus spaces and direct the balls into the basket as the invention is moved forwardly over the surface of a tennis court. Means are provided to prevent the wheels and disks rotating when the invention is moved rearwardly.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A device for retrieving a plurality of tennis balls scattered at random over a tennis court without damaging the surface of said court, said device including: a. a frame assembly that includes an elongate cross-piece, a handle that extends upwardly and rearwardly from said cross piece, a pair of laterally spaced parallel legs that extend forwardly from said cross piece, an elongate tennis ball receiving basket that includes a bottom, a forward wall, a pair of side walls secured to said legs, a rearward wall, and a plurality of parallel laterally spaced, rearwardly extending tennis ball extractors, a pair of aligned openings formed in said legs;   b. a tennis ball retrieving assembly that includes a pair of first hubs rotatably supported in fixed positions in said openings in said legs, each of said first hubs having an inwardly and outwardly disposed flat end surface, a pair of circular flanges that projects outwardly from said inner ends of said first hubs, a plurality of circumferentially spaced parallel rods that extend between said flanges, a plurality of pairs of resilient disks that are engaged by said rods, each of said pairs of disks laterally spaced a distance less than the diameter of one of said tennis balls, each of said pair of disks including a pair of axially aligned second hubs, a plurality of ring-shaped spacers disposed between said pairs of disks, and a plurality of beads on the outer peripheries of said disks that extend towards one another and serve to removably maintain a tennis ball within the space between said pair of disks, and said outer ends of said first hubs having first clutch surfaces defined thereon;   c. an elongate shaft that rotatably supports said first and second hubs and said spacers, said shaft having end portions that project outwardly from said first hubs;   d. a pair of wheels that include third hubs that have inner and outer end surfaces, said third hubs rotatably supported on said outwardly projecting end portions of said shaft, said inner ends of said third hubs defining second clutch surfaces, said wheels including resilient rims of a greater external diameter than that of said pairs of disks, and said pair of wheels including rigid means that extend outwardly from said third hubs to said rims;   e. a pair of stops mounted on the extremities of said shaft;   f. a pair of compressed helical spring means that extend between said stops and third hubs that at all times tend to maintain said first and second clutch faces in engagement for said pairs of disks to so rotate that the forward portions of each of said pairs of disks that encounters a tennis ball on said court to be moving downwardly relative thereto to force said tennis ball into the annular space between said pair of disks and said beads on said pair of disks serving to prevent said tennis ball escaping therefrom until said tennis ball has been rotated to encounter one of said tennis ball retrievers to be displaced from between said pair of disks and roll forwardly into said basket, with said randomly scattered tennis balls on said court being retrieved and deposited in said basket as said device is moved over the surface of said court; and   g. means for preventing said plurality of pairs of disks rotating when said device is rolled rearwardly.   
     
     
       2. A device as defined in claim 1 in which said disks are formed from a resilient polymerized resin, and said device in addition including: h. a plurality of tubular bosses that encircle said rods and are disposed between said pairs of disks, to maintain each of said pairs of disks laterally spaced a distance less than the diameter of the tennis ball that is to be retrieved.   
     
     
       3. A device as defined in claim 2 in which each of said disks in a pair thereof has a plurality of said tubular bosses projecting from a first side thereof, said tubular bosses in each of said pairs of disks having free ends of said tubular bosses in abutting contact with one another, and said abutting tubular bosses of each of said pairs being of such lengths that the lateral spacing between first sides of said pairs of disks is less than the diameter of the tennis ball that is to be retrieved. 
     
     
       4. A device as defined in claim 3 in which said tubular bosses are integral parts of the pair of said disks. 
     
     
       5. A device as defined in claim 2 which also includes a plurality of tubular bosses that encircle said roda and are disposed between said flanges and the end ones of said plurality of pairs of disks to maintain said end disks in laterally spaced relationship with said flanges. 
     
     
       6. A device as defined in claim 1 in which said beads are of generally arrow-head transverse cross-section. 
     
     
       7. A device as defined in claim 1 in which said pairs of disks are sufficiently spaced from one another for two of said pairs of disks that are adjacently disposed to each retrieve a tennis ball at substantially the same circumferential positions thereon and deform outwardly as a result thereof without contacting one another. 
     
     
       8. A device as defined in claim 1 in which said means for preventing said plurality of pairs of disks rotating when said device is rolled rearwardly includes: h. at least one toothed ratchet wheels mounted on one of said first hubs;   i. a dog pivotally supported from one of said legs; and   j. spring means that at all times urge said dog into contact with said ratchet wheels, said ratchet wheel and dog cooperating to allow said plurality of pairs of disks to be driven by said pair of wheels only when said device is moved forwardly by said handle.